Braided Pesto Bread
An easy and flavorful savory bread, featuring thick streaks of basil pesto sauce throughout.
So, I bit the bullet. I finally caved and pre-ordered both Frozen and Catching Fire. I figured, if I was going to drive to the store to get both anyway, why not just have them delivered. Right? If it weren’t for Prime shipping then I probably would have just gone to the store. But now I’ll be stalking the driveway waiting for that pretty brown truck to pull up. My luck, they’ll be late those days. Does anyone else get happy to see that truck? It’s like Christmas, only we know what’s arriving, or at least most of the time.
Tell me, have you seen either or both of the movies? If not, please do. They’re both seriously so good.
Also, an update on the doll situation. I got the Kristoff doll for lil man, in hopes they could each play with a character and not fight over them. Only, I’m positive the fights will still happen, it’s only a matter of time. But here’s the thing, I’m shocking myself, not literally of course. I still haven’t given them the dolls. They’re safely hidden in a box way out of their reach and almost out of mine. Out of sight out of mind! We’ll see how long that keeps working.
Now moving on to something totally delicious that you absolutely need to make immediately. No, really. This bread. This amazing bread.
A little back story. My oldest, she kind of follows my childhood footsteps in the sense that she is super particular about what she’ll eat, and thus what she won’t. When I was making this bread, she wanted nothing to do with it, even to the point of ewwwing at it. I easily bribed her into trying a bite, and that’s when it happened. She wanted more! She proclaimed her love for this bread practically. So given that my most choosey eater of the house loves this bread means that you absolutely have to make it. It’s that kind of good.
A tender and flavorful bread, with a basil-pesto filling, braided into a loaf and baked to perfection. Eat it as is, slathered with butter, warm or cold. Just make it, eat it and enjoy it!
This one is a keeper.
Braided Pesto Bread
Ingredients
Loaf:
- 1 1/4 C water
- 2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast
- 1 tsp granulated sugar
- 1 1/2 C all purpose flour
- 1 C white whole wheat flour
- 1 tsp fine sea salt
- 3 Tbsp Parmesan cheese
Pesto:
- 2 C packed fresh basil
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1/2 C Parmesan
- 3-4 Tbsp olive oil
Instructions
- Heat water to 115°F. Dissolve yeast and sugar in warm water. Allow yeast to proof.
- To the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with dough attachment, add flour and salt. With mixer running on low, slowly add yeast mixture. Increase speed to medium high, mixing until dough comes together in a clean ball. Shape dough into a smooth ball, transfer to a lightly greased large bowl. Cover and allow to rise for one hour or doubled in size.
- Meanwhile, prepare pesto sauce in a food processor. Blend together basil and garlic. Add cheese, blending quickly. With lid on and food processor running on low, slowly drizzle in olive oil.
- Roll out dough on a silicone counter mat into a 10 x 20-inch rectangle. Spread pesto sauce out to 1/2-inch from edges. Starting at one of the shorter sides, tightly roll up dough, pinching edges as you go. Using a sharp knife, carefully slice completely through dough, end to end. Braid dough. Carefully transfer to a lightly greased 10-inch loaf pan. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Lightly cover and allow to rise for an additional 30 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Bake for 40 minutes or until internal temperature reaches 190°F.
- Cool on a wire rack. Store in an airtight container.
Notes
More recipes to try:
Pesto chicken lasagna rolls
Bacon-basil pesto and chicken pizza
Whole wheat buffalo chicken pizza
Whole wheat pizza dough
Amish potato rolls
Cheesy garlic pizza bread sticks
Garlic and herb pull apart bread
English muffin bread
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That looks INCREDIBLE! The swirling pattern turned out amazingly well!
Thanks Jenny :)
I’m a pesto fiend, and this bread looks right up my alley. I bet any sandwiches made on this would be absolute heaven…but my loaf probably wouldn’t get that far! Pinned :)
It totally didn’t last long enough for me to attempt sandwiches ha! But I bet it would have been amazing :)
This is absolutely beautiful!!
Thanks Marie!
Never thought of adding pesto to my bread. And pesto has a special place in my heart
Well, now you definitely have to :)
This looks spectacular! I want this now!
Thanks Leah!
This is genius! My plants are officially dead, we literally pulled the plug on the aerogarden this morning but I have enough basil leaves for one more batch of pesto!
I *think* I might be able to get one more batch from mine but we’ll see. I’m totally scared to see the inside of mine after seeing yours!
Wow, this loaf of dough is stunning. It really is a beautiful loaf. I bet this is delicious, with all of the swirled layers of pesto. Yum! I’ll be over with a bucket of popcorn ready to watch Frozen :)
haha! I’ll have to stock-up on popcorn for the next month I’m guessing with the fun movies coming out :) And thank you!
This seriously has to be the pretties bread I’ve ever seen!
Thanks so much Laurie! :)
This braided loaf is almost too pretty to eat! I would love a pesto-infused slice at any time of day. Great recipe Rachel!
Never too pretty to eat, especially when it tastes this good :) Thanks Sally!!
Look at those gorgeous green pesto swirls! I LOVE this, Rachel. What a fun and delicious twist on traditional loaves. Great recipe!
Thanks Georgia!
Oh my goodness this is the most beautiful bread I have ever seen! I can’t wait to try this! Just lovely!
Thanks so much Shannon! :)
well, i know what i’m doing tonight! so glad i have all the ingredients!
Enjoy!! :)
Your photos have been taking my breath away lately! So stunning! You make such beautiful (and delicious!) food!
Thanks so much :) That’s really sweet of you to say.
This is beautiful ! Must try this!
Thanks Terri!
So in love with this bread!
Thanks Maria! :)
Oh my gosh Rachel that is the most beautiful loaf of bread I have ever seen. And I now know what I need to make with all the pesto I have stored in the freezer!
Thanks Erin! A perfect use for that pesto! :)
How does that skinny, withery doughy loaf turn into a blossoming, savory dinner dream? I mean, seriously. That stuff is legendary. This is bucket list worthy. Out-frigging-crazy.
It’s magic. ;) Thanks so much Heidi!
Wow, this bread is seriously stunning to look at. I keep following the pretty lines and weaves it’s forming, haha :)
Aww thanks :)
I can’t believe what I’m seeing. This bread looks too good to be true! I love it!!
Thanks Layla! :)
LOVE. THIS. I have so much bread in my fridge right now but I still need to make room for this one, it looks so good.
There’s no such thing as too much bread ;)
There aren’t enough superlatives to describe this bread. Made it for dinner tonight and it was wonderful. Thanks for sharing lovely photos and great recipe!
So glad to hear you enjoyed it! Thanks for coming back to share :)
Can I use all all-purpose flour instead of the white wheat flour?
Yes, it should still work okay.
What a beautiful loaf! I can see serving this in so many different ways- with a pasta dinner, as a snack, as a sandwich… How amazing would this be made into a grilled cheese sandwich? Yum!
Thanks Kristine! And seriously what a great thought to make a grilled cheese sandwich with it mmmmm!
This looks delicious- love pesto bread!
Thanks so much :)
Omg I do this exact thing with my challah recipe every weekend! Pesto n’ all. I usually just braid it and bake it on a flat pan so it looks more like challah bread but I love how neat it ends up being in the loaf pan! Definitely going to have to try baking it in one
I made this for dinner tonight with some leftover kale pesto – what a lovely recipe, thank-you!
I’m glad you enjoyed it! :)
Wow, I would think this would be complicated but you make it look pretty simple. I’m a huge pesto fan so I’m definitely adding this on my list of must tries! Thanks!
Great post! I’ve always made sweet braided breads, but haven’t made a savory one before! Thanks for sharing!
Thanks Angela!
Hi Rachel. I have lots of homemade basil pesto in my freezer so I won’t have to make it from scratch for this recipe. How much pesto do you end up having by following your recipe? I need to figure out how much to defrost. Thanks — can’t wait to make this!
I believe it makes roughly 3/4 cup, or slightly more. I hope that helps! Enjoy :)
Thanks, that helps a lot. I just needed to have a ballpark idea.
So I attempted this dough twice without luck. I feel like there is a disproportionate water:flour ratio. It keeps coming out gloppy and doesn’t form into a ball like it should. Any suggestions to what I’m doing wrong? Am I reading correctly: 1 1/4 cup water and 2 1/2 (total) cups of flour? I really want this beautiful deliciousness for lunch tomorrow!! Thank you!!
Those are the correct amounts, using all purpose and white whole wheat flour. However, as mentioned in the notes section, if your dough is too wet then you should continue to add flour a spoonful at a time until a ball forms. Good luck! :)
This looks divine!
Loved this bread! Only change I will make for next time is instead of a “lightly greased loaf pan”, I will grease the living daylights out of that thing! This is beautiful and delicious!
So glad you enjoyed it! :)
Amazingly beautiful. Love pesto. Love bread. Divine!
Thanks Emily!
This was amazing! We made sandwiches with the bread. I had one question though. Could I cut the dough and make them into sandwich size hoagies and bake them on the SILpat? Do you think the pesto idea would work with Ciabatta bread? Thanks again!!
I’m so glad you enjoyed it! I haven’t personally tried making them that way, but it would be worth a try. If you do, please let me know how it turns out! :)
This is amazing!
Thanks Jill!
I, too, had a big fail with this bread. I added more flour and still could not get the dough to come together in a ball. How long should it take? Maybe I over beat it – it tasted good but it did not rise very much either – so it is very dense!
I’m sorry to hear you didn’t have 100% success. There are many factors that come into play with making bread: measuring accurately, have substitutions been made, is the yeast active or old, not to mention that weather and elevation can play a big role. Many have had success with this bread, so the amounts are correct.
I will definitely try it again because it is delicious. But could you tell me how long it should take to come together in a ball once I get enough flour mixed in?
If you’re using a stand mixer, it shouldn’t take long at all – minutes really. If you’re doing it by hand it will take quite a bit longer and more effort with kneading etc. Good luck!
Please let me know if you use the dip and sweep method of measuring the flour or spoon the flour into the cup and then level it. The different methods for measuring will yield different weights, and thus, affect the outcome. Thanks in advance. This recipe is GORGEOUS!
All recipes on my site are the scoop and sweep method unless otherwise noted. Enjoy! :)
This is Yummy! Followed this recipe exactly. and the bread is great. This will be a regular in my house.
So glad you enjoyed it! :)
ok this is gorgeous and brilliant .. what a wonderful way to use pesto!!!
Thanks Alice!
Just made this bread! I hope it turns out as pretty and delicious as everyone is saying!
I saw your link to the brown eyed Baker. I hope to make this recipe tomorrow it looks and sounds amazing I noticed there’s no fat in the bread I find that unusual.I would have expected a couple of tablespoons of olive oil or some butter is it due to the oil in the pesto. Thank you Rachel.
No oil or butter is called for in the dough portion of the recipe. The pesto does add nice moisture to the bread. Enjoy!
Hi. Thanks for the recipe share. I tried the bread and the whole house smelled wonderful. The kids couldnt wait for it to come out of the oven. It tasted delicious and was soft. However the layers all came apart when i cut it- any suggestions how i can prevent that from happening. Would appreciate tour feed back. Thanks and regards. Deepika
So glad you enjoyed it. As for the layers staying together, my only thought is that it wasn’t rolled or braided tightly enough to compress the dough together during the rise and baking cycles.
There are 2 quantities for salt in the dough portion of the recipe- do both go into the dough or is the sea salt a sprinkle with the Parmesan cheese before baking?! Mine is in the raising state~ can’t wait!!!! Basil is the ultimate herb of choice at our house!!! Ready to enjoy the bread with ham and broccoli cheese soup for Sunday supper!!!
There is only one quantity listed for salt in the ingredients and instructions. It’s added along with the flour. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!
Thank you so much for your quick response! MY MISTAKE!! That’s what I get for having 2 recipes on the counter at the same time- the other was your Bacon basil pesto and chicken-pizza which was also amazing!!
So glad you realized what the issue was! Happy to hear you enjoyed the pizza too!! :)
Amazing! I love a fancy bread and this looks absolutely stunning!
Thanks Lauren!
That’s a yummy use of basil and I’m going to try it for sure. The italian traditional Pesto includes pinoles, but your recipe is lighter. Good ! Thank you!
I hope you enjoy it! :)
Rachel, I loved this bread! I used jarred pesto and was worried it added too much oil, but it baked up wonderfully. I’m making this again and trying the sun-dried tomato pesto next time (Classico brand). This is one time the food tasted as good as it looked. Thank you, and I really enjoy your site!
So glad you enjoyed it! And I love your idea for the sun-dried tomato pesto too! :)
this looks fab! i’m going to make for st. patrick’s day.. quick question; when you say braid the dough, is it just the two halves twisted together? thanks!
Yes, the two sections are twisted into a braid appearance. Enjoy!